Exhaust-gas conditioning means



May 16, 1950 J. P. RUTH 2,508,297

EXHAUST-GAS CONDITIONING MEANS I Filed Sept. 9, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /3 4 //v aw-0k:

F62 ?EPHPADTH W May 16, 1950 P, RUT 2,508,297

EXHAUST-GAS CONDITIONING MEANS Filed Sept. '9, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jase/ P Pu H WM Patented ,May 16, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,508,297 EXHAUST-GAS CONDITIONING MEANS Joseph P. Ruth, Denver, 0010. Application September 9, 1946, Serial No. 695,659 8 Claims. X01. isa -s) This invention relates to means for the treatment of exhaust gases from internal combustion engines and most particularly the gases from engines of Diesel'type, to condition such gases for free discharge into the atmosphere of underground workings, passages, and like restricted spaces, without noxious or hazardous effect, and has as an object to provide an improved treatment for reducing the temperature of and abstracting the irritant solid and colloidal matter from such gases prior to atmospheric exhaust thereof.

i A further object of the invention is to provide improved means adapted for convenient operative association with an internal combustion englue and arranged to condition exhaust gases from such engine in accordance with my improved methods as an incident of gas passage therethrough. A further object of the invention is to provide an improved conditioning treatment for exhaust gases characterized by enhanced and more perfect: diffusion of the gas within a liquid body.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved conditioning treatment for exhaust.

ends for which designed, free from onerous and exacting maintenance requirements, adapted to practical development in sizes and capacities adequate for all operating conditions, and applicable to use. with both self-propulsive and stationary types of engines.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in the nature and sequential relation of treatment steps constituting a novel method, and in the typical construction,

arrangement, and combination of elements comprising apparatus wherethrough the novel method may be given effect, all as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- I Figure 1' is a top plan view of typical apparatus suitable for. the treatment of exhaust gases in accordance with my improved method, the top cover plate of the assembly being removed with a consequent showing of certain elements in section and a portion of the partition member being broken away to show otherwise concealed construction and relationships. Figure 2 is a side elevation, half in section on the indicated line 2-2 of Figure 1, of the unit assembly represented in the preceding view. Figure 3 is a fragmentary,

detail section, taken substantially on the indis cated line 33 of Figure 2. Figure 4 is a trans'-' verse section taken on the indicated line 44 of Figure 2. Figure 5 is a fragmentary, detail section, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially on the indicated line 5-5 of Figure 1 when the top cover plate is in place.

The use of internal combustion engines in underground workings, interiorly of enclosures, and wherever convenient discharge of exhaust gases to the unconfined atmosphere is unavailable, has been heretofore most severely limited by the noxious and hazardous nature of such gases, particularly the high temperatures and irritant properties thereof. "Diesel engines are well adapted to and thoroughly practical for the powering of mine locomotives, pumps, compressors, and like underground equiment, were it not for the difficulties and dangers inherent in their exhaust gas output, and it is to the conditioning of such output for safe and unobjectionable release within confined spaces, that the instant invention is directed.

Diesel engine exhaust gases carry very little, if any, carbon monoxide and hence are entirely suited for discharge within confined or limited spaces where humans are present when they have been adequately cooled for elimination of fire and explosion hazard and reduction of heating effect, and have been purged of irritant solid and colloidal matter, to the attainment of which ends in a simple, efficient, and reliable manner the novel method and typical apparatus of the invention have been developed.

The improved gas conditioning treatment, susceptible of practice through various specific apparatus constructions, consists of a series of successively-related steps adapted to be automatically efiectuated by virtue of the temperature and pressure inherent in the exhaust gas as it leaves the engine. The high temperature gas is, through the agency of its pressure, discharged within and difiused through a body of water which, as an incident of the pressure discharge, is maintained in upward circulation to thereby extend and enhance the degree of gas diffusion by subdividing,

and reducing the size of the individual gas bubbles, the so-difiused gas rapidly giving up its heat to the water, generating water vapor at a heat cost of some 960 B. T. units per pound of water. The gas, cooled by its generation of vapor to a temperature approximating that of the vapor, rises above the water body in saturated relation with the vapor and therewith traverses a multi-layer screen or filter which entraps and returns to the water body any solid matter or waterglobules of magnitudes too great to pass. The intimately comingled gas and water vapor is expanded within a chamber at some loss of velocity and with consequent precipitation of the water-weighted and charge-neutralized solids and colloids, which latter are segregated in the water body away from contact with the incoming gases, and is then contrifugally separated, with a stepped-up initial velocity, for the final purging of solid and entrained matter from the gas and vapor now cooled and scrubbed for release to atmosphere in non-noxious and non-hazardous condition.

An apparatus unit assembly designed to give practical reflect to the improved method above described, and particularly adapted for operative association with and to condition the exhaust gases from Diesel-type engines of powered vehicles, such as mine locomotives, is illustrated by the views of the drawings. As shown, a generally rectangular housing having a front face H), a rear wall ll, end walls l2, and a semicylindrical bottom l3 merging smoothly with the front face and rear wall, is formed of any suitable material, such as sheet metal, for convenient mounting adjacent an engine to be served and to function as a reservoir for water in an amount suitably proportioned to the exhaust gas output of the engine. In the interests of efliciency, the housing preferably has a vertical height approximating its length and a width from front face to rear wall on the order of one-half its height, and for convenience of operative maintenance and servicing said housing is preferably equipped with one or more water level sight gauges M on itsfront face ID, a water input aperture closed by a removable plug l5 intersecting said front face at approximately the desired normal water level, and drain apertures normally closed by removable plugs 16 intersecting the end walls I2 adjacent the low point of the bottom I3.

Inwardly of and paralleling the rear wall ll upper portion with its upper margin coplanar with the housing upper end, a web I! is fixed to and extends the length of the housing interior between the end walls I2, said web bridging vertically from its upper margin to about the desired reservoir water level and then curving outwardly and downwardly to tangentially merge with and be fixed along its length to the rear wall I l at some distance below the desired water level so that its inner, concave surface engages against and serves as a directing baflle to facilitate circulation of the upper portion of the water body with which the housing is charged. The space between the web I! and rear wall II upper portion, when closed over as will hereinafter appear, constitutes a manifold compartment of uniform cross-section extending the length of the housing wherein the exhaust gases from the engine are initially received, internallythreaded bosses l8 defining apertures intersecting the end wall l2 portions comprised in said manifold compartment providing convenient means engageable with the exhaust gas line or conduit I9 leading from the engine. From closely adjacent and immediately above the desired housing water level, the space between the web I! and front face I ll portion parallel therewith is bridged and obstructed, throughout the housing length, by a permeable body of diffusing material, such as superposed series of fine screens 20, or the like, and in spaced relation therebelow the housing lower portion is divided and longitudinally traversed by a relatively-thick, generally-vertical bafile 2| formed with a semicylindrical lower margin, a relatively shorter front and a relatively longer rear wall, and a plane upper margin inclined downwardly from the rear wall upper margin to that of the front wall. The baffle 2| may be imperforately hollow or solid, closes at its ends against the housing end walls I2 to which it may be removably or permanently secured, and is disposed with its longer rear wall approximately coplanar with the vertical portion of the web I! to space said baiiie rear wall from the housing rear wall a distance greater than the spacing between the baffle and housing front walls, and with the bafile convex lower margin cooperating with the housing bottom l3 to define a throat wherethrough the housing forward compartment communicates smoothly and without restriction with the relatively larger compartment on the rearward side of the bafile. With the baflle disposed as shown and described the inclined, plane upper margin thereof underlies the diffusing body or material 20 for the direction of drippings from the latter into the narrower, forward housing compartment. Thus conformed and assembled, the housing, web I! arcuate portion, and bafile 2| cooperate to facilitate and maintain circulation of the housing water charge, induced and stimulated as will hereinafter appear, such circulation being marked by a relatively higher velocity, downward current between the housing and baffie' forward walls, a relatively lower velocity, upward current between the housing and baflle rear walls, and a still slower velocity, transversely forward current from the web I! arcuate portion beneath the body 20 and toward the housing front wall In.

The upper end of the housing fixedly supports and is closed by a rectangular, vertically-shallow box 22 having floor, side and end walls, and a removable and replaceable top closure or cover plate 23, all imperforate save as specifically set forth. The box 22 is at least coextensive with, and preferably slightly larger than, the housing end area on which it seats, and provides a compartment auxiliary to those of the housing wherethrough the exhaust gases circulate in the final stages of their conditioning. Immediately above the diffusing body 20 at one end of thehousing, closely adjacent the front wall of said housing, a relatively narrow, rectangular aperture having a length somewhat less than the housing half length intersects the floor of the box 22 to provide communication between said box and the housing interior, the margin of said aperture remote from the housing front wall being guarded along its entire length by a rib or lip 24 fixedly upstanding from the box floor a short distance, and the other long margin of said aperture cooperating with the wall of a semi-cylindrical, end-closed hood 25 which arches over and toward the box rear wall beyond said aperture to disposition of its outlet-defining margin above the box floor a distance about equal to the height of the lip 24 and rearwardly of the box well beyond said lip. In the other end of the box 22, a generally-cylindrical, axially-short separator 26 provided with a Venturi-type, tangential inlet throat 21, is supported by the cover plate 23 with its axis vertical, the mouth of its inlet throat 21 spacedly adjacent and directed toward the proximate end of the hood 25, and its closed lower end spaced above the floor of the box 22. A hole centrally of the otherwise closed lower end of the separator 26 is axially obstructed by a circular, concentric, flat baffie 28 fixed in upwardly-spaced, parallel relation with the separator lower end closure to permit flow therebeneath and to the central hole of said end closure, and a nipple 29 depending from said end closure in surrounding relation with said hole is directed to discharge axially of and with- .in a tubular return column 30 fixedly depending ,from and in end-communication through the box 22 floor, with its lower end well below the housing water level and disposed for discharge against and in close spacing above the inclined upper margin of the baffle 2i. Coaxial with the baflle 28 and of less diameter than the latter, a straight, tubular throat 3| is fixed in and extends through the cover plate 23 with its inner end .depending axially of the separator 26 and terminating in upwardly-spaced relation with the baflie 28, the outer end of said throat constituting a discharge to atmosphere or a connection to such conduit or line as may be desired for the direction and disposition of the output from the unit.

Intersecting the arcuate portion of the web I! with their axes vertical, their upper ends Within the manifold compartment defined by the web .vertical portion, rear wall ll upper portion, and

box22 floor, and their lower ends depending within the housing through the rearward compartment thereof and terminating adjacent the plane of bottom I3 mergence with the housing front face and rear wall, a plurality of identical, straight tubes 32 is fixed in spaced relation longitudinally of the housing for the transfer of exhaust gases from the manifold compartment and to the housing well below the water level thereof. .The upper end of each tube 32 is equipped with an inverted bell-mouth 33 whereof the intake plane is preferably above the input line or conduit I9, thereby to facilitate intake of gases by said tubes without preference as to pressure or fiow volume of a given tube and with some deposition of solids entrained by the incoming gases prior ,to passage through the tubes, and the lower end of each tube 32 fixedly supports, as by means of a clamp 34, a deflector body 35 whereof the lower surface remote from the tube end is curved and contoured to minimize its resistance to upward flow of water and its upper surface is annularly concaved to upwardly and outwardly direct and spread the gases inflowing through the associated tube.

Directly above and in axial registration with the intake end of each tube 32, the floor of the box 22 is intersected by an aperture, normally closed by means of a removable plug 36, through which suitable cleaning instruments may be introduced when the cover plate 23 and plug 36 have been removed to internally scrub and condition the tubes 32 for maintenance of the flow passages in unobstructed and unrestricted relation therethrough.

In the practical operation of the improved conditioner constructed, assembled, connected, and charged with water as illustrated and described.

v the tube lower ends against the associated deflector body 35 upper surfaces and thence, by virtue of the body upper surface contour, upwardly A through the water of the housing rear compartment. The so-directed action of the deflected incoming gases, assisted by the gas-induced thermal currents in the water body and the shape of the surfaces in contact with the water, operates to set up and maintain a water circulation about the baffle 2|, upward through the housing rearward compartment and downward through the housing forward compartment, which, once generated, continues steadily so long as gases emerge from the tube 32 lower ends and, because of the difference in spacing between the housing and bafile compartment-forming walls, is marked by a downward velocity in the forward compartment relatively somewhat greater than the upward velocity in the rearward compartment. The circulation of the water charge through the housing compartments serves several purposes. The upward, relatively slower travel in the rearward compartment first operates to shear, sever, and subdivide the bubbles formed by the incoming gas, thereby exposing maximum gas surface immediately to contact with the water for prompt transfer of gas heat to the water, with cooling effect on the former and temperature elevation ,of the latter, and for prompt, thorough wetting and water envelopment of colloids and solids entrained with the gas. The heavier of the wetted solids give up their heat to stimulate thermal currents assisting the water circulation and sink against such circulation to the low point of the housing bottom, while the lighter wetted solids and colloids carry upward with the water and are deflected therewith across the high margin of the baffle 2| and into the relatively more quiescent zone beneath the diffusing body 20, Where they tend to settle through said zone and toward the bafile inclined upper margin for direction into the higher velocity current of the forward compartment for washing into the housing bottom where they are deposited and left as the current velocity abates because of its entrance into the larger area of the rearward compartment. The cooled, wetted gases rise from the water body in intimate admixture with the steam and water vapor which they have engendered and penetrate the diffusing body 20 where some further drop of gas temperature occurs and where further wetted solids and colloids, together with water globules, are entrapped to drip into and reenter the wa ter body in the quiescent zone thereof and become subject to the settling action and deposition characteristic of the water circulation as above described. Steam-like, commingled water vapor and cooled gas rising through the diffusing body 20 leaves the housing l0 and enters the box 22 through the aperture covered by the hood 25, the drop in pressure incident to gas expansion within said box being marked by an additional temperature drop, any condensate or settlings occurring within said box draining from the box fioor through the column 30 for return to the circulating water body within the quiescent zone thereof and immediately above the baifle 2| inclined margin, the aperture-guarding lip 24 serving to inhibit return of drainings and deposits through the aperture and to the body 20. The

cooled and expanded gas and va p qr within the spafat'dr'fi through the throat '21 aifidwliirlsfiiiteriorly*ofthe cylindrical separator with centrifuging effect that acts to throw out water globules and wetted solids and colloids that may still be present, the Venturi form or restriction of said throat imparting a stepped-up initial velocity to the vapor and gas entering the separator and being productive of an expansive effect, as the flow leaves said throat, which further aids release of entrained matter, while the tangential relation of the throat relative to the separator assures the desired centrifuging eifect. Material abstracted from the gas and vapor within the separator 26 drains from the separator walls and floor through the nipple 29 and beneath the baffle 28 to enter the column 30 for return to the circulating water body in the manner above set forth, and the purged gases, at low velocity centrally of the separator 26, leave the unit through the throat 3| at safe temperatures and free from noxious or irritating elements or properties.

Since changes, variations, and modifications in the specific relationship of method steps, and in the construction, arrangement and combination of apparatus elements, may be had without departing from the spirit of my invention, I wish to be understood as being limited solely by the scope of the appended claims, rather than by any details of the illustrative showing and foregoing description.

I claim as my invention:

1. Internal @mbustiogeggine exhaust gas conditioning means comprising, a housing 'offi'sti'tut:

mga reservoir adapted to contain water, a

baflie longitudinally traversing said housing in' spaced relation with the housing top, side, and bottom members to define a channel. wherethrough water may circulate within said housing about a horizontal axis, a water charge in said housing covering said baffle, a manifolding chamber longitudinally of the housing upper portion, exhaust gas conducting means communicating with said chamber, a plurality of like tubes operatively between said chamber and one side of the housing water circulating passage with their wardly of said housing and for the circulatory stimulation of the water charge therein, and means in closing relation with the housing upper end for the successive and progressive separation of entrained matter from the vapors uprising from said water charge as an inciwthrough and outwardly from said charge.

divergent, spaced bottom walls defining a passage for water circulation within said housing and about said bafiie, and the bafl'le upper margin is downwardly inclined from its rear wall upper edge and to its front wall upper edge to define an enlarged, relatively quiescent zone in the upper forward portion of said passage.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said channel for water circulation has a relatively narrower forward portion and a relatively wider rearward portion, and said tubes are disposed for lower end gas discharge approximately centrally within and adjacent the bottom of the wider rearward channel portion.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of said tubes has an upwardly-directed, bell-shaped, intake mouth within said manifolding chamber above the discharge axis of the exhaust gas conducting means, and an eddyminimizing deflector clamped to its lower end in spaced opposition of an annularly-concaved defiector upper surface with the associated tube outlet.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said tube upper ends are disposed, vertically within said manifolding chamber and the chamber top closure is intersected by apertures registerin with said tubes and normally closed by removable plugs.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means closing the housing upper end consists 9f an expansior box g9 mmunicating with the housing interior above the water charge 2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein I file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date M 1,114,876 Goodspeed Oct. 27, 1914 1,824,7 13 Fisher Sept. 22, 1931 1,992,286 Tobin Feb. 26, 1935 2,150,614 Sutkowski Mar. 14, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 1 Number Country Date 237,609 Germany Aug. 22, 1911 685,532 Germany Dec. 20, 1939 through a restricted opening, with the housing interior well below the water charge surface through a hollow column, and with atmosphere through a cylindrical separator having a tangential, Venturi-type axial outlet.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means for separating gravity-responsive matter from the vapors uprising from the ater charge comprises vapor-permeable, diffusingmaterial obstructihgthehousinghpperportion above the water charge surface, an expansion box closing the housing upper end above said diffusing material, a restricted passage in the floor of said box opening to the housing above said diffusing material, a drain from the box floor discharging within said housing well below the water charge surface, a cylindrical separator within said box having a-tan ntial,\llenturitype, inwe throat, a drain rom said separator coacting with said box drain, and an outlet to atmosphere axially of said separator.

JOSEPH P. RUTH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the intake throat and in an 

